How to style a table for Christmas by Work Life Mama

Ina, from Work Life Mama shares her top tips for a gorgeous Christmas table. They’re simple, stylish and oh so easy. Put them into practise and everyone will want an invite to your place this festive season!

Ina is the creative director and editor behind lifestyle blog, Work Life Mama (previously Sneakers & Soul). When she’s not chasing after her 3-year old son Luka, Ina is running three businesses, curating content and pursuing a truly mindful lifestyle.

At an already busy time of year, it’s easy to overlook the little things that make a big difference at Christmas. That’s why we’ve asked Ina from @work.life.mama, for tips to styling our tables for the silly season.

From the house reno to the fact that it is already the busiest time of year for me to work; we’ve got a lot going on in our lives at the moment.

So I like to get in early and start planning what we’re doing for Christmas, otherwise it all catches up with me and I am in no way prepared for the dozen or so people descending on our house.

As you may know, I absolutely love styling interiors. So, it almost goes without saying that I love to style up my table for Christmas lunch. I tend to go for simple and natural styles that are affordable but still beautiful. And the new Shaynna Blaze range at Harris Scarfe ticks all the boxes on that front.

I have three things that I stick to when styling, and really these can be applied to any interior space not just your Christmas table.

1. Pick a colour palette
I usually pick one main colour for the theme and then two or three ancillary colours. For my table this year I chose grey as the main colour with neutral browns, white and off-white as the ancillary colours. I then chose a couple of accents, in the form of foliage or gold bowls/cutlery as my little nod to the festive season.

2. Pick a theme
And you don’t need to go all out with Santa and the elves (although you can if that’s what you love!). I always choose natural, organic materials, so I guess you could say my theme is organic coastal, as the beach house is where we spend our summer and is my inspiration.

3. Keep it simple.
Don’t feel like you have to cover your table with stuff, it still needs to be functional. That is, you still need to be able to serve food and for people to be able to share a meal which, after all, is the most important part of spending time with your loved ones.

Bringing it all together, I chose the simple and elegant stone dinnerware set by Shaynna Blaze. It provided the perfect starting point for building on my main colour, grey, but also covered my requirement for using organic materials (i.e. stone).

I used a few different pieces from the Shaynna Blaze Haven series, including the beautiful two-tone salt and pepper grinders which are a fab feature piece coupled with the linen table runner and napkins – you can’t go wrong using neutral colours and organic textures.

The greenery you see is a mixture of foliage I got from the market, along with a beaded garland and woodland wreath (both available in-store at Harris Scarfe). I then used the rose gold cutlery and champagne gold bowl and baubles as a colour accent to instill a little festive cheer.

Honestly, don’t overthink it. Pick your colour palette, theme and keep it simple. Your friends and family will love what you create, and you can get down to doing what’s most important – taking time out to nurture your loved ones with food and drink.